Meeting at La Verita Tonight

Thundergod, Hinjew and myself (Fallout) met up at the restaurant La Verita tonight for some fine dining and to go over a few things concerning the trip. We discussed the possibility of spending our entire trip in Tokyo and only visiting a few select cities (Osaka, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, etc.) with a bullet train, or renting out a car to drive out. These options did not satisfy our needs for the following reasons:

1. We’d be missing out on a lot of Japanese culture by not visiting the rest of the country.
2. We’d get way too bored in Tokyo, eventually (11 days is too long).
3. The bullet train does not go directly to every city from Tokyo.
4. The lack of major roads/highways connecting certain cities, would slow us down tremendously. We’d be wasting a lot of time.

So far, we’re still going with the idea of staying one night in Tokyo upon our arrival, and flying the following morning to a city west of Japan. There, we’re going to rent a car (more of a SUV or van) to drive back to Tokyo. This way, we get to see a lot more in Japan, not feel pressured to to follow a schedule of sorts, have the liberty to stay in a city as long as we please, and spend a considerable amount of time in Tokyo at the end of the trip (4-5 days). The only problem we’re foreseeing is not finding a large car, or a rental company that will be able to serve our needs. See, we need a car we can rent west of Japan, and then drop it off in Tokyo right before leaving. We’ve got a bit of researching to do in the next few days.